POLITICAL AND SOCIAL AWAKENINGS

Nineteenth-Century British Guiana

The constitution of the British colony favored the white planters.
Planter political power was based in the Court of Policy and the two
courts of justice, established in the late 1700s under Dutch rule. The
Court of Policy had both legislative and administrative functions and
was composed of the governor, three colonial officials, and four
colonists, with the governor presiding. The courts of justice resolved
judicial matters, such as licensing and civil service appointments,
which were brought before them by petition.

The Court of Policy and the courts of justice, controlled by the
plantation owners, constituted the center of power in British Guiana.
The colonists who sat on the Court of Policy and the courts of justice
were appointed by the governor from a list of nominees submitted by two
electoral colleges. In turn, the seven members of each College of
Electors were elected for life by those planters possessing twenty-five
or more slaves. Though their power was restricted to nominating
colonists to fill vacancies on the three major governmental councils,
these electoral colleges provided a setting for political agitation by
the planters.

Raising and disbursing revenue was the responsibility of the Combined
Court, which included members of the Court of Policy and six additional
financial representatives appointed by the College of Electors. In 1855
the Combined Court also assumed responsibility for setting the salaries
of all government officials. This duty made the Combined Court a center
of intrigues resulting in periodic clashes between the governor and the
planters.

Other Guianese began to demand a more representative political system
in the 1800s. By the late 1880s, pressure from the new Afro-Guyanese
middle class was building for constitutional reform. In particular,
there were calls to convert the Court of Policy into an assembly with
ten elected members, to ease voter qualifications, and to abolish the
College of Electors. Reforms were resisted by the planters, led by Henry
K. Davson, owner of a large plantation. In London the planters had
allies in the West India Committee and also in the West India
Association of Glasgow, both presided over by proprietors with major
interests in British Guiana.

Constitutional revisions in 1891 incorporated some of the changes
demanded by the reformers. The planters lost political influence with
the abolition of the College of Electors and the relaxation of voter
qualification. At the same time, the Court of Policy was enlarged to
sixteen members; eight of these were to be elected members whose power
would be balanced by that of eight appointed members. The Combined Court
also continued, consisting, as previously, of the Court of Policy and
six financial representatives who were now elected. To ensure that there
would be no shift of power to elected officials, the governor remained
the head of the Court of Policy; the executive duties of the Court of
Policy were transferred to a new Executive Council, which the governor
and planters dominated. The 1891 revisions were a great disappointment
to the colony's reformers. As a result of the election of 1892, the
membership of the new Combined Court was almost identical to that of the
previous one.

The next three decades saw additional, although minor, political
changes. In 1897 the secret ballot was introduced. A reform in 1909
expanded the limited British Guiana electorate, and for the first time,
Afro-Guyanese constituted a majority of the eligible voters.

Political changes were accompanied by social change and jockeying by
various ethnic groups for increased power. The British and Dutch
planters refused to accept the Portuguese as equals and sought to
maintain their status as aliens with no rights in the colony, especially
voting rights. The political tensions led the Portuguese to establish
the Reform Association. After the anti-Portuguese riots of 1889, the
Portuguese recognized the need to work with other disenfranchised
elements of Guianese society, in particular the Afro-Guyanese. By the
turn of the century, organizations including the Reform Association and
the Reform Club began to demand greater participation in the colony's
affairs. These organizations were largely the instruments of a small but
articulate emerging middle class. Although the new middle class
sympathized with the working class, the middle-class political groups
were hardly representative of a national political or social movement.
Indeed, working-class grievances were usually expressed in the form of
riots.